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Locking Down your IMs

In my opinion, instant messaging is both one of the greatest internet communication tools available, and at the same time one of the most frowned-upon technologies by corporations and lawyers. I use Skype as my instant messenger, and it is invaluable for on-the-fly conversations when waiting around for an email response just isn't good enough. The security of an instant message is one reason why many do not use it as a way to communicate, because of the fear that such messages would not be confidential. Never mind the fact that with the rise of electronic discovery an instant message is discoverable! Here's a tool that won't make your IM session any less discoverable, but will definitely protect your confidential communications. SimpLite is a free product from French company Secway that allows you to encrypt your MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ/AOL, Jabber, and Google Talk IM sessions. There's also a pay version that you can use in corporate environments. Unfortunately, it won't encrypt my Skype sessions, but if you use one of the other chat services it may be worth checking out. Thanks to Lifehacker for the heads up.

Full post as published by Inter Alia on May 22, 2008 (boomark / email).